Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Saturday, October 25, 2008

This was from an impromptu trip to the great outdoors otherwise known as our back yard or rather Gods Big Back Yard which also happened to be the bible school theme this past summer! ;)

Jophie has truly found this new facination with the outdoors. He loves the sunshine and the breezes on his face however, his biggest facination and honestly has always been is looking up into the trees or rather up through them and, the closer you can get him the better. He even used to do this as a baby when he was small enough to lie under our Christmas tree. He'd look up through the branches for hours with the tree lights on of course!

Speaking of......

Our tree goes up the day after halloween! Yep you read that right!

Let me just say it one more time in case you think your eyes have failed you.

Our tree goes up the day after halloween! ;0)

Jophie loves Christmas and I make certain he can enjoy those lights as long as possible each and every year.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I'm still trying to figure out when it ended or when it began? Could be they are bumping one right into the other?

I'm thinking it started bright and early or rather dark and early at 1:30 a.m. sharp! Jophie needed a good hoover(suction for those of you who may not know me just yet). So, a good hoover and a very soggy bottom was calling my name. By 2 a.m. he had a dry bum, dry/clean pad on his bed and was repositioned to his favorite side. I often wonder does he feel like a pancake with all that flipping? ;0)

I had just enough time to smash all his meds and put them to soaking before the timer sounded for the umpteenth time. Well maybe not that many but when that thing heralds you every 20 minutes day in and day out it really does seem like umpteenth!

The next 30 minutes I actually spent in front of the computer. In a chair. Not moving. Ahhh sweet relief to be off my tootsies if only for a moment. 3 a.m. rolled around in what seemed like a few seconds! Time for those meds I put to soaking. I shoved his meds in then hooked him up to his water infusion. Set the pump and turned out the lights so "maybe" he'd think it was really bedtime rather than "happy hour" at party central! haha

The next 2 hours I spent working on Meals 4 Wheels "stuff" and ya know what? Here I sit more than 24 hours later and I'm STILL working on M4W "stuff". There really has to be an end to this somewhere right?

5 a.m. and oh my I think I might actually be heading towards some sweet slumber. I think. Before anything could go wrong or before Jophie decided he needed a party partner in crime, I ran like a madwoman to close the house down for the night!

TV's off! Check!

Lights all off but one! Check!

Front and Back doors all locked to keep out creepy things! Check!

Jophies monitor moved so I can watch it with my "one eye open" sleeping habits! Check!

One last peeky at Jophie. He's fine! Check!

One last peeky at the computer to make sure nobody needs me! ~Waves to Tia!~ Check!

Bathroom duty! Check!

Turn on fan! Check!

Jump in bed! Check!

Read my bible! Check!

Ahhhh sweet slumber! Check!

Time check before I close my eyes revealed 5:30 a.m. Ahh a bit earlier than my norm. Yay!

9 a.m. I hear the rap tap tappping on my window of Jophies nurse. It's the ONLY way they can wake me up. ;) I staggered to the door and let her in then staggered and stumbled my way back to my bed for another 2 hours of sleep! Yay!

11:00 a.m. Bathroom duty calls. I'm still sooooo sleepy and have been for a few days now. I just can't seem to get caught back up. Such is life. Before I open my door and enter the world of the living I spend about an hour on the computer checking emails/checking on friends/answering questions/working on M4W again all the while trying not to give myself a concussion each time my head bangs on the keyboard.

12:00 p.m....I think I'm hungry which really means "let me think about what I might like to have for the next few hours all the while lets find something crunchy to munch on to help me think better" Not the best thing to be doing but if anything the "crunch! crunch! crunch!" of my little snack is keeping awake and that my friends is a good thing!

1:00 p.m. ... I've finally decided on what sounds good to eat so I send the nurse for a few things from the grocery store and to pick up a sandwich. Mind you my food situation even though its been decided has still not made its way to hands much less my mouth.

The timer goes off shortly after the nurse leaves for our goodies which means I now have to figure out what part of his schedule he happens to be at. Meanwhile I'm still rubbing my bleary eyes and trying to clear the cobwebs from my brain. Gave Jophie some carafate then hooked him up to his water infusion. Set his pump and now its workin for me! ;0)

Walked out on the deck just so I could say I stepped outside and to feel the nice fall breeze. The smell was nice too! Ahh fresh air! Nurse gets back around 3 p.m. just in time to fix Jophies meds and NOW I can eat!

Jophies gets hooked up to meds and food and the nurse and I try to decide what fire would be the most important to put out before he needs his trach cleaned. I made a few phone calls to medical supply places. I had tons more calls to make but I was spent after those. Theres always tomorrow! ;0)

4:00 p.m....Time to get things ready to clean Jophies trach and by 4:30 p.m. we are doing just that! Cleaning his trach and changing the trach collar.

5:00 p.m. Nurse leaves and Jophie and I are back to wingin it alone again. Jophie needed flipped/changed again along with the soggy wet bed pad. I turned on his pumpkin light then sat down to flip through the channels. Flip! Flip! Flip! I suspect I'm a bear to watch tv with! Flip! ;0)

6:00 p.m.....Time for water infusion. Set his pump and drew up his carafate then set timer for carafate. Bathroom break again. I sometimes forget that you know ;)

7:00 p.m.... Gave Jophie his carafate then back to the computer to work a bit more on M4W.

8:00 p.m.....Back to tv to watch some of my programs. Well "try" to watch is the key word. Most days I'm more like Jiffy Pop than anything! 8:30 p.m. time for Jophies meds to be smashed and put to soaking. Flip Jophie/change diaper and bed pad again. After I got him settled on his least favorite side the meds were ready.

9:00 p.m....Shoved his meds in and started his tube feeding. Set timer to keep track of his 20 minute slow bolus of his formula which has just made my stomach rumble. Ah yes food. You know your hungry when your belly rumbles for Novasource Pulmonary! LOL

I mosey on into the kitchen and stare into the fridge trying to will something to jump out and fix itself. Didn't happen. Peeked into freezer and nothing up there was very helpful either. I guess I'm just gonna have to cook it myself.

Hmm....Hot dogs are lookin pretty tasty about now especially since I know I can slap em in the microwave and they can be on a plate with mustard in a minute flat! Hot dogs with mustard it was! Grabbed me some punch flavored water and a pill for ME this time.

10:00 p.m....Tossed my paperplate in the trash and washed up the few tubes/syringes/bottles that had accumulated of Jophies. Sterlized some water and filled Jophie some bottles of water up for the next day. Straightened up a bit and thought about a shower. Just thought about it mind you. ;0)

By this time its nearing midnight and Jophies all Mr. Soggy bottom U.S.A. again! Changed that soggy mess including the bed pad then gave him another pancake flip back to his favorite side! Gave him another dose of carafate and finished up his tube feeding.

Messed around on computer till 1:00 then smashed up Jophies meds and got them to soaking again. Now just go up top and re-read what I did starting at 1:00 a.m. then fast forward to now at nearly 4 a.m.! Holy cow! I think I musta ran one day into another!

I need to go so I can at least "try" and hit the sack by 5:00 or maybe 6:00. We shall see!

Monday, October 13, 2008

I'm so excited to finally get this project off the ground. It's been a long time in the making.

The button in our sidebar is now clickable and will take you straight to Meals 4 Wheels. We will be taking orders through October 31st. I'll leave this post up top during that time so it can easily be found.

We've also set up a support group for all those who purchase the cookbook. Once you've purchased a book your are more than welcome to go ahead and join. You can either go to the actual sight and request membership or I can send you an invitation. The group sight can be found at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Meals4Wheels/

If you have any questions please direct them to Meals4Wheels@yahoo.com and someone will get back with you shortly.

We would be ever so greatful if all our friends new and old out there would help spread the word with us. You can do so by placing our Meals 4 Wheels button on your website or blog by just copying and pasting the code into your blog or website. You can find the CODE at the bottom of the Meals 4 Wheels page.

If you need any help at all with the code just toss us an email using the email above.

I will also be adding a link shortly to a flyer that we will be handing out locally as well as putting in places of business. We would love for you to pass these out as well. Just save it to your computer and print out as many as you'd like.

Think about that for just one second.

A nationwide/Worldwide flyer distribution. Wow! I don't think I've ever heard of that being done.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to all of Jophies caregivers, local friends as well as our online friends for being so supportive of this project. Your love, caring and support for Jophie is unmeasureable. We could not have completed this without you. We love you all and are forever grateful for any part you may have had in it!

We have one more request and that is to please pray for this project to be successful. Each and every portion of this project has been a labor of love fueled only by one small boy. One small boy who is loved by so many and in great need.